1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for repairing a liquid crystal panel, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for repairing a liquid crystal panel by irradiating pixels having display defects due to dust with laser light.
2. Background Art
Liquid crystal panels are prevailing as screen devices for various home appliances and information terminals including televisions, personal computers, and mobile phones. For further dissemination, it is important to increase the screen size and resolution and to reduce the manufacturing cost.
For repairing defective pixels in an active matrix liquid crystal panel, there is a method of repairing by laser light irradiation. For example, a “bright spot defect” occurs due to failure to block transmitted light caused by a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) malfunction and a defect in the pixel electrode or alignment film. For repairing pixels with bright spot defects, there is a method of repairing by irradiating the alignment film of the defective pixel with laser light to disturb the orientation, thereby decreasing the transmittance to reduce the bright spot defect contrast (e.g., JP 5-313167A (1993) and JP 8-015660A (1996)).